The proliferation of mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) has ushered in a new age of communication, where even users on the go can stay in touch with work contacts, family, friends, etc. However, situations may occur when the operator or user of a mobile device does not wish to receive calls or other inbound communications. Moreover, in many of these situations, the user of the mobile device may still wish to maintain the ability to send outbound communications, surf the Web, or make use of other mobile computing device functionalities that require connectivity.
Software applications, (e.g., “apps” on a smartphone) have been developed that can block incoming communications (e.g., voice calls and text messages) to a mobile computing device. However, these conventional software applications are limited in that they do not permit selective blocking based on the characteristics of the incoming mobile communication. For example, conventional smartphone apps do not permit a user to automatically block unwanted calls from a particular source or contact. Thus, a user must block all inbound communications, including desired inbound communications, in order to block some unwanted communications.